IT HARDLY CAUSED a ripple when it was announced late last week. It should have been a giant splash.
NMU was awarded a “Marshall Plan” grant of nearly $2.5 million to set up classes and training programs in cyber security in 21 school districts in the central and western U.P.
This grant comes in addition to the establishment recently of the UP Cyber Security Institute at NMU.
IT’S A REALLY BIG DEAL.
What it means is that high school and middle school students (and some elementary) in these districts will learn how to stay safe when they’re on their computers and smart phones.
And further, they’ll be introduced to cyber security as a possible profession. Jobs. Good salaries.
“By the time they get out of high school, many of them will have certifiable skills to get jobs,” says Keith Glendon, of IBM, who, along with Dave Nyberg, of NMU, led the effort to get the $2.5 dollars from the Michigan Department of Education.
The students in the UP will now have a leg up on most other kids around the country. Huge.
The program will bring corporate security experts into the schools to help train the teachers and the students. The program will be funded for three years. If it succeeds, as expected, who knows what will be next?
It’s no hyperbole to say the Marshall Plan money, in tandem with the Cyber Security Institute, could represent a game-changer for the U.P., and especially for Marquette and NMU.